Leaf spring



" oct. 12,1948. l'w, R BERRY 2,450,869

LEAF SPRING l Filed May 2, 1945 C/ Y c f2- l y X frag-enga?.

22 www Patented Oct. '12, 1948 LEAF SPRING ,l

WalterichardaBerny, Leeds;L England,vl` assignor England f Application May-2; 1945, Seriall No. 591,459.

In GreatfBritain Octob'efr 14",' 1944 This invention relates to leaf springs. sucl as aref'commonly employed-'furthe purpose4 off Veanother:

It hase ixerrslfxownV from a study of: the stressand 4v"deiie'ction-fformulae -for spring. plates that the-Worlrdone-'per unit'mass-'fior a givenv maximum tensile -stressis 'complet-elyexpressed by the formula I A yz X constant where; I i is-thfe'emoment ot inertia; Ag-thecross-sectional areapiztheiplatey thedistanceoi:` the tension. face. from;l the s neu.-

traiaxis. Therefore; thef factor.

L` i Ay2 is? the. measura of. comparative.- overall eciency offspring plates.: .For spring gplates of. varying section to give` the `same .deflection characteristicsc and .thus be. comparable, .it is ynecessary for th'e'=.momentof inertia-tube the same-for each. seetionisand,therefore, 1 it .wi-1l' vbe seen from the,-A

aboveziormula thatany thing which can-bedone' to reduce the cross-sectional area (provided :thev

vvidtlrv of platey .maintained constant) with or Without .alteration in the distance of the tension face from the `neutral 7-axis'anduwithout altering th.e==.moment.of inertia, WilLresult in increased overall eiiioienlcy and the spring produced from..

such sections will be capable of performing the same workiatethesameeon.dess maximum tensile stress with a saving in Weight.

This-eftect is very desirableeven though the compressive-.stresson the compression= surface man gbe` increased. thereby., as itzis known that failuresiin'spiging platesA genera-llyrstart from; the tensionvface. and that considerable increase: in the compressive stress can be allowed With safety.

It is known thatfitfhas already'been proposed to obtainfthis desirable effect by the removal ofv a certain amount of metal from.. the compression'side byfiorming a groove or channel symmetricallythereinand addingan amount of metal one-each Yside of the' channel to' compensate for the reduction in the moment of inertia and alteration in the position of the neutral axis which would otherwise result from the removal of the metal to form the channel.

In one form of such plates Where the Width of 2 Glaimse- (C1. 2675-471);

the--vgroove4 or channell is one -third of' thekl Width@ of vthe 'section-1an' loverall efciency of' approxi-s.. mately 124% can be obtained-ascompared@Withl 100% forthe `normal-concave sect-ion 011.1051727` .1 for La't-fplateseall vofequal moment of` inertia;

The object-oil thepresentl invention-is: to-pro-a vide-i a- 4plate' section ofi lhigh eiiiciency whichhasi:I the r further-important advantages Vnot possessed` by`- theY present grooved orf channelA sectionl 'of` jouproviding interlocking engagementl loetweenfth'efv several superimposed plates of Athe* spring, and of' preventing-leakage of-lubricant -from the edges 1 of adjacent-plates thereof.Avv

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 represents a theoretical-plate-section-i embodying gthepresent invention.

Figure 2l represents a practical-form of/'ftheimproved; plate-section.

Figure 3-rpresentsfa normal plate-section for" -v` purposesV ofcomparison.- 'f

' Figure-4 shows-l'how the improved sections interlock with leacheotherwhen superimposed on one another:

Referringto-the'drawing; a-indi'cates the compression' side; -b the tensioneside and c-cv the neutrall axisV tof-thev section in' each case.

Theimproved section is ofthe kind inf-which-` a central grooveorchannel d-is--formedinthe compression face:- Inafsection of thisy kind t= -hasY beenpreviously shown that--compensation`- for metal removed in this way can be made by' adding metaktothefemainder of the compression faces Similar''compensation` can also beobtained bytheremoval of'metal from the tension face;

Instead, vtherefore; of compensating --by adding; all"t1i"eV metal required' uniformiyf'on yboth Vsides ofith'e groove-'orfchannel on the compression`l facegleavingithese portions and the tension' face substantiallyv latyitisn proposed in this invention to compensate partly vby removal -oil metal' from the marginal edges of the tension face and partly-by:the'addition of metal at the marginal edgesol the compression face as Well as by the uniform Yadjustment'ofV metalon the-portions of thecompression .face von .each side..y of the@4 groove or channel and the adjustment'fofxtheg.- width and/orfdepthof channel, thus -retainingf'` the highV eiiiciency of' the channel secti'on'while'" maintaining the same moment of inertia.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the improved section, in .addition to having va central channel d in the compression side, is formed so as to provid-e against relative lateral displacement of adjacent plates of similar section, .said channel and the marginal edges of the section being s dimensioned and disposed with respect to the neutral axis of the section that, whilst having substantially the same tensile stress an-d deflection values, the improved section is of less weight than that of the normal rectangular or substantially rectangular plate section.

For the purposes of the invention the marginal edges of the channelled section are stepped out of the plane thereof in such a manner as lto form an open-sided groove e in each marginal edge at the tension side of the section and a corresponding rib on each marginal edge Iat the compression side, the ribs on one plate being adapted to engage with the grooves in the adjacent plate of the spring.

As already stated, Figure 1 shows the theoretical form of the improved section. For the -purposes of manufacture it will, of course, be necessary, as shown in Figure 2, to make the grooves e at the edges of the tension face slightly wider than the ribs J on the compression face to allow for mating after rolling Ithe section. To facilitate rolling it will also be necessary, as shown in the same figure, to taper the sides of the central channel d in the compression face, and in order to avoid stress concentrations all internal angles must be amply radiussed. The edges h of the section may either be rounded, as shown, or square as desired.

Since all these variations from the lpurely theoretical form influence the final results obtained they must be judiciously arranged and taken into account in determining the eiiiciency of `the improved section.

In -comparing the -improved section with the normal flat section shown in Figure 3, it must be remembered that the latter is not a true rectangle but is slightly concave on both faces a and b and usually rounded at Ithe edges h to a radius equal to the normal thickness of the plate. The effects of these modifications are that whilst the normal section will have the same value of y for the most highly stressed portions of the tension face b as in the case of lthe true rectangular section, it will have a smaller moment of inertia and a slightly less weight. Before a true comparison can be made, therefore, between the improved section and the normal flat section due yallowance must be made for these modications of the latter.

As an example of the type of comparison which can be obtained by fixing arbitrarily certain of the variables in the theoretical form shown in Figure 1, Figures 2 and 3 and the following table are given in which corrections have been made for widening the grooves e in the edges of the tension face, sloping of the sides of the central channel d in the compression face, and rounding the edges h to a radius equal to the nominal thickness of the section shown.

interlocking effect between adjacent plates by.

the engagement of the ribs f and grooves e on the one plate with the grooves and ribs on adjacent plates, thereby preventing any tendency to relative lateral displacement between the various plates of the sp1-ing. At the same time and by the same means an effective leakage of lubrican-t is prevented from between the edges of adjacent plates.

I claim:

1. A plate for laminated springs having a tension face and a compression face; open side grooves at the marginal edges of said tension face; a central longitudinal groove extending partly across said compression face; and downward stepped ribs along the marginal edges of said compression face so as to provide for interlocking engagement with adjacent plates of similar shape.

2. In a laminated spring in combination a plurality of superimposed plates having each a tension face and a compression face; a central 1ongitudinal -channel in each of said superimposed lplates extending partly across said compression face of the saine; ribs forming part of each of said superimposed plates and extending along the marginal edges of said compression face of the same; vand stepped d-own portions forming part of each of said superimposed plates extending in said tension i ace of said plate along each marginal edge thereof; said stepped down portions and said ri'bs of said superimposed plates being constructed and arranged so as to be complementary to each other so that when said plates are assembled .and superimposed said ribs of said plates engage and interlock said stepped down portions in adjacent plates so as to prevent relative lateral displacement of said superimposed plates.

WALTER RICHARD BERRY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,546,584 Hutt July 21, 1925 1,730,700 Wallace Oct. 8, 1929 1,772,935 Gylling Aug. 12, 1930 1,813,617 Fries July 7, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 41,486 Netherlands Sept. 15, 1937 365,985 Great Britain Jan. 28, 1932 446,362 Germany June 29, 1927 

